Atlanta Housing Market Summit: “New Homes Are Rebounding”

Atlanta Housing Market Summit: “New Homes Are Rebounding” Atlanta metro Realtors have known it for many months. We are in a "market shift" in the Atlanta metro real estate market. Today, as I write this there are only 46,852 homes on the market on June 19th. Typically by March each year the number of homes on the market climbs to 90,000 homes, by the end of June the number of homes increases to around 110,000 and by the peak of mid-summer that number swells to 150,000 to 170,000 homes on the market in the entire Atlanta metro area. That has not happened this year which is creating a "supply and demand" problem. Inventory is down in every Atlanta metro city. As long as I have been a Realtor, I have never seen less than 90,000 homes on the market in June. So it was interesting last week to hear the latest market statistics at the annual Housing Market Summit held at the Cobb Galleria. In a drastic change from recent years, the Atlanta Housing Market Summit – held on June 13, 2012 at the Cobb Galleria – wasn’t all about doom and gloom in the Atlanta real estate market. In fact, it was just the opposite…good news for Realtors as well as home sellers and buyers in Atlanta. “Everything is improving,” said Steve Palm, President of SmartNumbers. “We’ve turned the corner.” The Summit concentrates on new homes construction, but also covered trends in resales and relocation. Here are some tidbits from the presentation: •New construction has been up year-over-year for the last 4 months, and has posted the best increase since 2006. •Lot prices are up 30% in the 1st quarter of 2012. •Bank sales are falling, while builder sales are growing. •New construction permits are up. The top 5 counties make up around 75% of permits. •The ratio of resale closings to new construction closings is 8.5:1. •The median price of resales has increased over the last two months. •Metro Atlanta currently has 4.8 months supply of inventory, and inventory is currently at the same levels as back in 2000. •New home buyers are mostly buying their 3rd home or higher. The 1st time move-up buyers are continuing to fall, since most can’t sell their current home. •New home buyers are getting older and half of them are transferees. •80% of new home buyers use agents and 80% are also shopping resales. •More than 90% of new home buyers use the internet. •80% of transferees use agents and 60% of those said the agent was the one that found their home. •Of transferees, the most were from Florida with 13%. The next highest was Georgia (moving from south to north or vice versa) with 13%, South Carolina with 7% and Texas with 7%. Other Good News Realtor.org recently ran an article with more information about shrinking inventory. Nationwide, “Inventory of for-sale single-family homes, condos, townhomes, and co-ops dropped 20 percent in May compared to year-ago levels, according to data from realtor.com of 146 markets”. Atlanta was one of the top 10 markets with falling inventory over the last year with almost a 40 percent drop. In addition, the median price rose 3.17 percent nationally year-over-year last month. For the latest industry news, don’t forget to check the Industry News section of MetroNet regularly. About the Housing Market Summit The Summit is an invitation-only event held semiannually by SmartNumbers and ViaSearch, which provides residential real estate analysis and forecasting for the metro Atlanta area. Presented by Steve Palm, President of SmartNumbers, and John Hunt, his counterpart at ViaSearch, the Summit is a chance for real estate industry members including agents, brokers, developers and builders to look forward to a brightening real estate market. Sara Hibbard is a Realtor in the Atlanta metro area. Sara is available to answer your many questions anytime at 404-660-2481 or via e-mail at sara@SaraHibbard.com. Sara Hibbard is Glad Georgia Real Estate Is On Your Mind!